Flora, Potions, and Health

Version 3A File from Aayko's The Legends Corner

Below follows an overview of the use of flora. There
might be Ancient Arcana Spells and Special Troop Training Types that
also require flora, but these differ per module.
In the original Arcane Expansion, spells 441-444 are said to require
1 Silverleaf; however the New Legends II Rules Book does not mention this.
I could not get this confirmed, but take it that this is an oversight
of the Rules (p.113).
Of course the Plant Flora spells #483-489 require
flora too, but these spells are not seperately indicated below.
Flora grows +1 each month; however there are certain seasons for each of the flora in which
there is a chance for a substantial increase, and the more flora present the higher the special
increase during this blooming season.

(I) By ACTIVATION (U3)
- Potions can only be activated once, and then disappear. So if it tried to heal something you
didn't have (wounds, poison, etc.), then the potion will be in your tummy without having
had any effect.
- If an activated potion affects Characteristics (Str, Dex, Con, Bty), Attributes (Tac, Inf, PC)
or Skills (Stealth, etc.), or causes Invisibility, than
that effect totally disappears at the following Production. If an activated potion caused a Bless/Curse
or a Shell (+MAR), then that effect gradually deteriorates over the next couple of productions,
like normal blesses and shells fade away in time. Healing of poison or healing of wounds of course is not
undone by production.
- A character can activate items when he is Insane, but not when he is Dead. You can activate
an item that you have in your possession slots, and also items that you have equipped.
- You can get only 2 identical potions per month to work for you on activation, no more! The only
exceptions are the Healing Draughts. So no endless pumping up of statistics by boozing...
So a maximum of +20 Stealth, +2 PC, etc. via Activation.
- An Invisibility potion may also give +3 to +5 Stealth, but this varies between modules.

(II) By IN USE (Q1)
You can Equip the standard elixers and they will give the character the associated bonuses
WITHOUT consumption of the item (contrary to when you would Activate it)! However, this is ONLY valid for
potions that enhance Characteristics or Attributes. So the Invisibility potion will NOT turn you invisible
when equipped, nor will the Greydust boost your Stealth (a Skill!) when in slot! (With thanks to Jeff
Benefiel for confirming the Stealth). Likely the same goes for Fairydust (MAR), but this needs
confirmation.

Ergo: you can drink (activate) two Silversheens, and have two Silversheens in slot (In Use),
to get a total of +4*5= +20 Dex! Which after production drops to +2*5= +10 Dex (the In Use potions remain
in use).

Effects on characteristics
Remember that Size Checks on dex/str in regard to weapon, armour, shield and mount,
are not only done at the time of Q1, but also before each turn processing, and any items
that are physically unable to be equipped will be stripped out and placed in the character's
possessions. For these Checks the following value will count: Base plus status adds, plus items
adds, plus spells adds, plus effects of activated potions (like silversheen elixer). Size
checks for player characters occure *before* the turn is run. At production, only the NPC's are
checked.
So: adds of potions that you had IN USE before your turn is run, will count for the
Equipment Checks on STR/DEX at the beginning of the turn. But if you rely on adds from
ACTIVATED potions alone, do not forget to re-equip the weapon after swallowing the potions -
at the start of the turn the weapon might have been unequipped, and you could feel a bit naked
facing that Black Dragon without A Hero's Best Friend.

Effects on physique
Remember that there are two seperate indicators for your physique:
1) Physical Conditions, in the following hierarchy in regard to overwriting:
Alive - Insane - Stoned - Dead - Very Dead - Long Dead - Dead and Laid to Rest.
So if you are Dead you can not be Stoned or made Insane, if you are Stoned you can not be made
Insane but can be killed (made Dead), and if you are Insane you can be Stoned and killed
(made Dead). Note that Death therefore is an extreme measure to cure the conditions of Stoned
and Insane... So Physical Conditions are all mutually exclusive.
2) Afflictions, which are *seperate* from your Physical Condition, and from each other (not mutually
exclusive!): Mandra poisoned, Belladon poisoned, Poxed, Black Deathed, Mindblanked and
Charmed/Geased. You can have ALL these afflictions at the same time....
ERGO: being Dead does NOT heal Plague or Poison! Diseased corpses e.g. will still
spread the smelly spots around...when not burried. Nor does Healing your wounds cures Poison (and
after curing poision you still have to cure the accumulated wounds).

Other important health matters:
-- If a character is Poisoned then he cannot heal with Rest in an Inn, and the Mark of Power check is
also skipped for healing! Plagues will benefit from the Mark of Power though. The plague effect is done then poisons then
normal healing (if it applies) then the Mark effect. So if you were 70+% wounded and belladon-poisonned
just before production, you will surely die - the Mark of Power will not bail you out.
-- In regards to getting turned to stone during fights, the official stand is that the
chance to get Stoned is the % of wounds you get from the Turn to Stone
Special Attack. However, players are very sceptical about this, and Harald
Gehringer has done a study on 45 cases of getting Stoned, which definitely
speaks against the official formula; he proposes that the chance is rather
the Special Attack Value devided by the SAR of the target.
-- Dead and Stoned characters cannot do much, except for T11; they cannot use U3 to do something about their
affliction; Stoned characters cannot use Q1, but dead characters can (apparantly).
-- If you need to convert a Dead character to get him ressurected, then you cannot do that by the
Convert spell, nor by item activation. You can do it by an adventure (and he can also be ressurected via
an adventure), as the dead can use the A3 order.
-- If a character is insane there is a 30% chance that his character actions will succeed.
-- Healing at production is done at the full constitution level in a place
force and 1/2 of that in a field force.

Invisibility has little or no consequences for character orders (like e.g. diplomacy); it
does help protect against capture from ALL possible events, and gives +10 DF and some other
benefits in combat [some players reported +50-100% AFB in a fight; not certain though]. It sets Sighting Values
to zero, but you can still duel an Invisible opponent (just fling that sword wildly!), and invisible
characters will still be Encountered by lair monsters (they eat lots of carrots!). Invisibility
makes you duck Entry Conditions of a location (but only if all members of your party are invisible,
as the check is on the party as a whole - if one member is NOT invisible and does not meet
requirements then no one enters).